Carded
by webdlfan
Summary: Lindsay's shopping for cards for Father's Day ... set after season five, sort of. Two shot. Happy father's day.
1. Chapter 1: Carded

_While I was looking through cards for my dad, I thought of Lindsay looking through cards with Lucy for Danny (because I was too old for most of the cards – so sad). Then I started to think through the story and realized that Danny will spend Father's Day on the floor of a bar, possibly … nope, no possiblies. Not even considering a possibly. _

_Poor Lucy is going to spend Father's Day alone without her father!!! But forgetting that … or at least leaving it for another somethin'-somethin' that may be in the works right now, we'll just pretend the last few moments in PU did not happen. (has anyone else thought that it sounds like "P-ewe?" Like a big stink? Not that I'm sayin it is, just saying that's what it looks like.) Now that the note is longer than the story itself, I'll move on._

_Anyway, own nothing. And if I did … _

* * *

_Carded_

Lindsay took a side step down the isle of the small mid-town card store and reached for another card as she waited for Flack to come pick her up. Everyone was giving him small jobs, to keep him busy and active, but he seemed to just float through the days, one after the other; little emotion, little of the Flack that had opened his arms to her from the beginning.

She knew there were few words to say. Even time would never take away the pain.

Lucy cried out suddenly, drawing her mother's eyes back down toward her. She rode in her front carrier, sucking on her pacifier, her eyes focused on Lindsay's leather strapped necklace--a present from her own mother on mother's day.

Lindsay turned back to the cards and smiled a little at the plain card she had pulled from the slot. It's simple message "_Missing you on Father's Day_" was perfect for her own father. He was not a man to dabble with sentiment or cartoony-pictures. She knew what he would be wanting with his card. Pictures of Lucy, pictures of the family, and more pictures of Lucy. He would sit back in his old recliner, pull out the pictures in the quiet of the evening, and smile over them. Then he would tuck them back in the envelop, set it on the side table, and repeat the ritual the next evening—never would he think to take them out and find a frame.

That, Lindsay supposed, was for her mother. She made a mental note to email a few more pictures a few days after she sent the card.

"All right," Lindsay adjusted Lucy in her pack with a little bounce. "Now for your daddy. Something funny or serious?"

Lucy only looked up at her, her small hand still tugging on the necklace.

"Right—we should go for funny, right? Hmm." She pulled out cards from under labels of "Father's Day: Just for Fun" and "Father's Day: Humor."

She laughed over the first card. "No—your daddy hasn't worried over giving out money to you yet. I'm not even sure he knows how much we spend on you. He just goes and does it. He loves you that much. But there will come a day when he's going to have to say no. And no again. And learn to do it without it hurting him so much. Then … _maybe_ … he'll just say no. So a little while after that this card will be funny."

Lindsay slid the card back into the slot, and pulled out another labeled top ten reasons you deserve a relaxing Father's Day. Lindsay read the reasons and realized they were all too old for Lucy. She hadn't had a recital, she'd never been on a date—and wouldn't Danny love _that_—and Lucy had not been sick yet for her daddy to take care of her that way. No … but it gave her an idea to make her own card. She could change the word deserve to _warrant_ …

"Looks like a job for you and me while daddy's on the late shift tomorrow."

Lucy lifted up her eyes and Lindsay leaned down to nuzzle their noses together. Lucy gurgled around her pacifer, like the edge of a laugh.

Lindsay decided that she would take that as a yes.

Balancing the card on the plastic holder, Lindsay managed to pull out her cell phone. She took a picture of the card and the list, then tucked the card back into its slot.

She found a serious one about a new daddy, and a funny one about daddies and bunnies, another card for her own father that was for a grandfather, and then a final little princess card that would make Danny melt.

Smiling, Lindsay took the stack of cards to the cash register.

"First Father's Day?" the clerk asked as she started to ring of the cards.

Lindsay nodded. "I couldn't resist. I suppose there's a little insanity in this."

She smiled down at Lucy, and watched as Lucy curled her fingers around one of her mother's fingers, than another.

"You did pretty good. Some mothers leave with three times as many."

Well, if other mothers bought more ...

For a moment, Lindsay considered going back, then stopped herself. It wasn't the card or the cards that counted. It was the daddy, she thought, and didn't Lucy have the perfect one.

Besides, she had a few more ideas, and a list of things to do.

She couldn't wait for Father's Day.

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That's all. :) No room for notes down here. I wrote them all up top.


	2. Chapter 2: UnCard!

_So lots of thanks for all those that reviewed Carded. And since you did, and asked so nicely, here's Danny's side on Father's Day. By the way "Un-Card!" is kind of like the jousting term, "engaurd!" (thanks for the correction _talkstoangels77)_.  
_

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_Un-Card!_

It occurred to him that he needed to get up, get ready for work, but he lay there, eyes closed, waiting for the sound of the alarm. He'd first woken when he'd heard Lucy over the monitor, and he'd felt Lindsay rise first, leaving him to sleep. After that, he was in and out. He heard the shower, and then later the rustling of fabric as Lindsay got ready for the day.

Danny rolled over in bed and blinked against the early morning sunlight and realized what had woken him up as he heard another cry from the baby monitor. He lay there, expecting to hear Lindsay's voice. Instead, Lucy's cries got louder.

He rolled out of bed and rubbed his face as he headed to Lucy's room. "Linds?" he called out into the apartment, but was met only with silence. He frowned as he glanced toward the kitchen area, but headed straight into the nursery. Lucy's cries reached a new pitch.

"Hey Luce—you seen your mommy?"

Lucy's only answer was a breath before she resumed her cries. He leaned over, shifted her so he could check her diaper, and winced at the stink. "Lucy—you sneak into the kitchen for something besides milk? What on earth did you eat?"

Lucy hiccuped, continued to cry. As he reached for her, the smell became more obvious. "No wonder mommy went into hiding. We may both need a bath when this is all over."

As he picked her up from her crib, he saw the enveloped propped up by Lucy's fluffy pink rabbit. But Lucy came first.

_Bath_, he thought as he removed her soiled onsie and diaper. _We may need to fumigate the entire apartment._

He dealt with the diaper as fast as possible, cleaned and powdered her bare bottom. By the time he got the diaper on, her cries had turned to a slight whimper.

He picked her up, clad only in her diaper and held her out in front of him, as if giving her a once over. "Better?" he smiled and brought her against his chest, to rock her gently. He smiled as he heard her sigh, and gently pressed his cheek to rub against her soft hair.

Then he remembered the envelop.

"So, you think your mommy told us where she was going?"

With Lucy held against him with his left arm, he reached down and picked up the envelope and pushed open the unsealed flap with a finger. As he pulled the card out, he smiled at the cartoon picture of a baby with a little a crown on her head. It read _From your little princess …_

He pushed open the card with his thumb. His smile trembled at the _Happy Father's Day_ written in child like letters across the inside, with the baby sitting on the _er _of _Father_, dress in a diaper and a crown.

He'd known it was Father's Day today, he just hadn't let himself think about it very much. He would work, try to get home in time for dinner. Have a nice evening with Lindsay and Lucy. It was more than he'd ever done for his own father.

He blinked back tears and turned Lucy so she could see the card too. On the bottom right hand side, Lindsay had left a message.

_Danny, when I saw Mac had you scheduled for today (he should have known better!!), I asked him if I could come in for you. It is, after all, your very first Father's Day, and from what you told me, maybe even your first real Father's Day. I really wanted you to have this day with Lucy._

_I'm not due back for full time yet, so Mac's keeping me to lab duty. Yankees versus Mets is set, as always, on the DVR. Maybe in the future you and Lucy could go for real, make it into a family tradition. I actually looked it up to get you tickets, but I figured you would want to spend it with Lucy--diaper changes, feedings and all. Your favorite microwave popcorn is out by the microwave. You have a steak, potatoes and, as we say in Montana, fixins, in the fridge._

_Thanks Daddy, for making me a happy Mommy. By the way, when Lucy's ready for something to wear, open the little pink bag. It's for you._

Danny looked around the room, spotted the bag on the dresser, then returned to read the last few lines.

_Enjoy your day, Danny._

_I love you._

He smiled.

"I love you too," he murmured. He walked over to the dresser, set the card down and reached into the bag. He grinned as he pulled it out of the bag and lay it flat.

In big, bold letters it read _Daddy's Girl Today. _

"What do you think, Luce?" he asked, holding it out for her. "Ready to get some clothes on you?"

When he looked at his daughter, she was smile—his first smile of the day. He pressed his lips to her cheek. "Lets get this day started."

* * *

Barely in time for Father's Day ... but here none the less.


End file.
